BOLSHOI MAY TOUR IN ‘87; L.A. COULD BE INCLUDED

Negotiations are in progress for a U.S. summer tour in 1987 by the Bolshoi Ballet that could include an engagement in Los Angeles, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Opera said on Thursday.

“We haven’t settled the fact that they are coming, but we are offering a proposal for the Bolshoi to appear here (in New York) at the end of June, then to appear in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles,” said John Wilson of the Met, which would act as presenter for the tour by the Moscow company.

The Bolshoi Ballet last appeared in this country in 1979, including an engagement at the Shrine Auditorium.

Wayne Shilkret, director of the Ambassador Cultural Foundation performing arts staff, told The Times on Thursday, “We are interested in presenting them here. We’d be delighted. But right now we are not involved.” Shilkret noted that he is leading a contingent to the Soviet Union this week to attend the recital in Moscow by pianist Vladimir Horowitz, an appearance sponsored in part by Ambassador. The foundation will present the Kirov Ballet of Leningrad at the Shrine next month.

A spokesman for the San Francisco Opera confirmed that talks have begun with the Met and with San Francisco Ballet to present the Bolshoi at War Memorial Opera House Aug. 3-10, 1987. “We need to raise $100,000 beyond any ticket revenues to underwrite their appearance in San Francisco,” Craig Scherfenberg said.

San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who traveled to Moscow and Leningrad in December, announced earlier this week that the Bolshoi would perform in San Francisco, as part of an exchange between that city and the Soviet Union.